List of video games I like to watch being played

While I usually prefer to be the one playing a game, there are some games that I enjoy just as much to watch. Sometimes I even prefer to watch the game rather than play it. These games tend to be ones that are visually appealing and ones at which I am by no means an expert. I find an amount of joy and awe in seeing someone run through an especially difficult game.

There are two reasons I like watching this game being played. First, I like seeing experts easily pound out a 10-footer. Second, it's only when you watch the game being played can you actually watch the background animations.

Ninja Gaiden has some serious flaws that will prevent me from ever trying to get good at it, but, when played by an expert, is a lot of fun to watch. The cut scenes add a narrative to a screen full of enemies and impossible jumps.

Specifically the original arcade cabinet. As a general rule, I'm terrible at racing games, and don't enjoy them enough to ever try to get good at them. OutRun was one of those games in the 1980s that really impressed me with the barrage of large sprites constantly racing toward the player. The game also has really nice music that, when the player avoids crashing, goes on for several minutes before repeating.

Either two experts dueling head-to-head, or someone playing Bowser at the highest difficulty setting. The amount of stuff moving around the screen in insane, and I don't know how the players can keep track of it.